


tw: Fullmetal Alchemist

by chinajousama



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fullmetal Alchemist Ending Spoilers, Gen, Guilt, Panic Attacks, potential OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 08:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19269643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinajousama/pseuds/chinajousama
Summary: In hindsight, maybe watching an anime about a pair of brothers trying to get their bodies back wasn’t a good idea.(Originally posted on Tumblr in 2016)





	tw: Fullmetal Alchemist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [temporalSilence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/temporalSilence/gifts).



> Originally written 18th Jul, 2016.
> 
> A relic from back when our newest hero was Ana. Initially conceived between temporalSilence and me over chat messages. Not proofread since the first time I posted it so forgive the clunkiness
> 
> Allusions to panic attacks written by a person who has never had one so let me know if I misrepresented it or how triggers work.

It all started with an unfortunately timed question from an unwary source.

“What’s Fullmetal Alchemist?”

Silence fell in the kitchen as its current inhabitants – Genji and Hana – turned to stare incredulously at the oblivious Brazilian.

“Wait.” Hana began, voice ringing with disbelief. She stared at Lucio as if someone had just told her their favourite anime was Family Guy. “You mean to tell me-"

“You’ve  _never_  heard of Fullmetal Alchemist?” Genji followed up immediately.

Lucio looked between the two in confusion as they glanced meaningfully at each other.

“No?”

“We need to fix this.” Hana said determinedly.

He jumped in surprise as Hana latched onto his arm and began pulling him out of the kitchen.

“Hey, wait!” Lucio grabbed for the fridge in surprise. “I was gonna-”

“No time!” Hana insisted, taking advantage of Lucio’s skates to tug him along.

“Lucio, you are about to get  _educated_.” Genji slipped past the two of them to race to the rec room in delight.

“We are having a marathon!”

-:-

Most of the current Overwatch team were out on recon, busy with missions, or simply not interested, but Hana and Genji had still managed to get a few people to join the impromptu marathon. For instance, McCree had been waylaid on the way back in from his afternoon smoke to join a bemused Lucio and patient Zenyatta on what Hana had dubbed “The First-Timers’ couch”.

“Man, McCree, they got you too?”

“Yeah, looks like. Kids seem really keen on this cartoon (“Anime!””You do realise you are only two years older than me, right?”) for some reason.”

“I will admit that I am intrigued by this show that my brightest student holds in such high regard.”

Hana vaults over the back of the couch to land on the bright pink floor cushions in front of the couch, sending popcorn scattering over both men.

Genji turned off the main lights, the player they had set up whirring softly as the first episode began. He settled himself in front of his  _shishou_ , his robotic body folding into a comfortable cross-legged position.

Admittedly, it got mildly uncomfortable seventeen minutes in when the scene of a younger Edward Elric pleading for his brother to come back began. Genji kept his eyes on the screen as Zenyatta let out a soft sound of realisation.

As the first episode came to a close and the second episode began, the uncomfortable silence descended again when the Elric brothers’ failed attempt at human transmutation began to play out.

“… It has been a while since I watched this.” Genji admitted during the credits for the second episode. “I had forgotten how soon they would address the Elric brothers’ past.”

“Will you be okay?” Zenyatta asked gently, looking down at the back of his student’s head.

“Of course,” Genji said quickly. “I have come to terms with my circumstances, and I know how this story ends.”

-:-

Hanzo signed out of the training room, satisfied with the results of his practice session. Slinging his bow onto his back, he silently moved through the base, making his way back to his room.

As he passed the recreation room, he noticed the unusual darkness of the room for the middle of the afternoon. Discreetly, he looked in.

It appeared that there was some sort of marathon occurring, as Hanzo could see both Genji and Hana lit by the flashing glow of the screen. It also seemed that McCree, Zenyatta and Lucio had been dragged into it, as they were all present as well. Familiar with the forceful personalities of both Hana and his brother, Hanzo could see why those three in particular had been drawn into the marathon.

Curious to see what entranced them, he turned his head to look at what was playing.

Desperate Japanese shouts echoed through Hanzo’s mind. He felt his heart skip a beat.

_Hagane no Renkinjutsushi._

Hanzo’s vision greyed out as a sharp pain throbbed through his head. Hastily, he turned away, trying to conceal how he suddenly had difficulty breathing. His fists clenched, his muscles froze, his heart began thudding rapidly.

_Give my brother back!_

He ran.

-:-

“ _Anija_ , we’re watching  _Hagane no Renkinjutsushi!_ ” Genji had noticed Hanzo’s entrance. “Remember, it used to be our fav- “

He turned his head away from the screen and was met with the sight of an empty doorway.

“ _Anija_?”

Genji rose from his position on the floor, running to peer into the hall in worry. Hanzo had disappeared from sight.

“Genji, is something wrong?”

Hana paused the episode as Zenyatta turned to look at the cyborg standing in the hallway.

“I need to see to something. My apologies  _shishou_ , everyone. Carry on without me.”

With that, Genji disappeared, the afterimage of his cybernetic additions glowing in his wake.

-:- 

Awareness came back to Hanzo slowly, starting with the loss of the warmth afforded by the setting sun. A sharp wind blew across his skin, causing his exposed skin to prickle. He became aware of how he felt uncomfortably hot and cold at the same time, restraining a shiver. His head pounded and there was an ache in his knees from where he had collapsed onto the rough surface of the Gibraltar roof. His bow had slid off his back at some point, and was hanging uncomfortably from his arm, the strap digging into his skin.

_“Anija! Anija?!”_

The screams that Hanzo had heard from the rec room speakers resurfaced, causing him to hunch further, hands fisting on his lap as he drew the parallels between the fictional events that had played on that screen and his most unforgivable crime.

_Foolish._  He snarled to himself in disgust.  _How weak are you, to be felled by such false events? It was just a show, a children’s cartoon, with no bearing on reality. And yet you fled like a frightened pup, scared and trembling. You should be past this._

Dimly, he heard a voice call out to him.

“Brother.”

Genji.

He was speaking English for some reason. Why was he doing that?

“Brother, are you okay?”

Why was Genji asking him how  _he_  felt?

Hanzo stayed silent, staring at the dusky horizon. He was keenly aware of the soft tread of footsteps coming to a halt behind him and he did his best to ignore the slightly unnatural tone to the cyborg’s voice, due to the cybernetic enhancements that had been done to help his brother survive. The yearning for his brother to continue talking, to prove that his brother still lived, warred with the guilt that formed from the audible reminder that it was his fault that those enhancements were even necessary.

After several minutes of quiet, filled only with the raucous caws of birds flying home to roost and the wind rustling the treetops nearby, Genji moved forward, laying a mechanical hand on Hanzo’s covered right shoulder. He tensed at the contact.

“I know that you saw us watching Fullmetal Alchemist.” He said gently.

“What of it?” Hanzo said sharply.

“Will you be okay?” Genji repeated his question. “We have changed much since we last watched  _Hagane no Renkinjutsushi._  Like returning to Shimada Castle or eating ramen in Hanamura, it is not and will never be the same.”

Hanzo hated how Genji could say what he did without recrimination in his tone. How could Genji not hold a grudge against him for what he had done? Even months after the brothers had reunited in Shimada Castle, Hanzo still had trouble reconciling the tranquil cyborg with the brash and shameless younger sibling he had –

“I… I am fine.” Even to his own ears, it sounded false. Genji huffed softly, proving to Hanzo that he had failed to sound convincing.

“Please,  _anija_ , don’t lie about this.”

At that word, Hanzo could not restrain the full body shudder that ran through him. Genji, hand still on Hanzo’s shoulder, moved to sit next to him, letting his legs dangle off the edge of the roof. The sky had grown dark, and the first stars were starting to emerge. Genji’s body was more visible now, emitting a faint green glow in the dim light afforded by the watchpoint beneath them.

“You know how the show ends, Hanzo. They learned from their mistakes and got better in the end, did they not?”

Hanzo held his silence for a while longer before letting out a resigned sigh. He slid his bow off his arm properly, placing it away from the edge of the roof and finally moving his legs out from under himself. His knees were slightly scrapped from his initial collapse, and his legs whirred in protest as he swung them over the edge like Genji had.

Genji appeared to glance at them – with the addition of a mask obscuring his features, it had gotten even harder to read his brother – for a brief moment as Hanzo tried to voice his thoughts.

“Real life is not so kind. There is no Truth to return your body to you in this world, nor do I possess any magical ability to trade for it if there were. There is no way to turn back time and fix my mistake like that which was afforded to Edward and Alphonse in the end.”

“I don’t know, brother. A cybernetically-enhanced body  _and_  my dragon? I feel like it would not be necessary. After all, I got a better deal than Alphonse.”

Genji’s light-hearted response only worsened Hanzo’s mood.

“I mean, sure, having ramen isn’t the same anymore and I might not be welcome in some places, but  _shishou_  can’t eat at all. It might be hard to find a way to replace my tattoo, but since most of my body is now artificial, I could ask around if any mechanics nearby are good with decals. Tell me, would I look better in orange and gold?”

“Do not joke about this!” He snarled, shrugging off Genji’s hand and already regretting his words as he said them. What right did he have to chastise his brother about his own deformity? What right did he have to disparage his brother for finding joy in the aftermath of his – assumed – death? A death that  _he_  had caused.

He looked away from Genji, feeling his ears heat from shame and staring obstinately at the faint trio of stars that made up Orion’s belt in the night sky.

“Forget it. I lost the right to judge your actions a long time ago.”

“Nonsense, brother. As a sibling, you are always allowed to judge family far more often than you would any other person.”

The words did little to assuage Hanzo’s guilt. How often did Genji judge him and finding him wanting? Surely he had done so at some point over the past months, when Hanzo failed to integrate himself with Overwatch, when he bit out sharp retorts at Hana or Lucio for their childish behaviour, when he picked fights with McCree or 76 in group training, when he rejected Zenyatta’s attempts to talk to him. Surely, even now Genji must felt have felt  _some_  disappointment in him for running and hiding on the roof like an overemotional teenager.

It was Genji’s turn to sigh as he noticed his brother’s spiralling mood.

“Brother, I was sincere when I told you that I forgave you for killing me. Yes, I spent several years loathing what Dr. Ziegler was forced to do to keep me alive, but that was over a decade ago. My time in Nepal with the Shambali and Zenyatta has taught me much.”

“I can still see and talk, even if I do sound like a Vocaloid sometimes. I have a working body with all my limbs, a group of friends that I trust with my life and a dear brother that needs to be reminded that sometimes, reality is stranger than fiction.”

Hanzo looked at Genji’s new body, studying it as he let his brother’s words wash over him. In a way, Genji was right – compared to the armour that Alphonse had been bound to, Genji had indeed been more fortunate. Unlike the fragile blood seal on Alphonse, Genji was still in a physical body, despite it being comprised of various metals. Genji’s dragon was still with him, the inheritance of the Shimada holding true, despite all that had occurred.

“Did you learn that speech from the monks? I don’t recall my brother being so eloquent.”

Genji laughed, the sound filling Hanzo with an unfamiliar joy. Warmth rushed back into him as he did his best to commit his brother’s response to memory.

“Some of it.” Genji bumped into Hanzo playfully. “If you want to get some lessons yourself, I can ask  _shishou_  for you.”

“Not likely.”

They stayed outside for a while after that, simply enjoying each other’s company. Maybe in the future, Hanzo could tell Genji about why he had fled, but knowing that his brother cared to seek him out was enough to settle him for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Anija: Genji and the younger Slicer brother both use the more old-fashioned anija instead of aniki, hence my decision to keep it untranslated.


End file.
